Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Mary Immaculate College is committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive and welcoming community where all students, staff and partners can thrive. Through its Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Interculturalism (EDII) Office, the College continues to advance a whole-institution approach to embedding equality, respect, intercultural understanding and human rights across all aspects of campus life. Guided by MIC’s Strategic Plan and informed by national policy and legislative frameworks, EDII initiatives during 2024–25 supported the development of a more equitable and inclusive learning and working environment, while strengthening engagement with the wider community.
MIC’s Bronze Athena Award was renewed and formally presented at the 2024 Athena Swan Ireland Awards Ceremony in Trinity College Dublin in November.
The Faculty of Education submitted its Bronze Athena Swan Award application.
In October, the Faculty of Arts Athena Swan Steering Committee hosted a day of celebration intended to be a visible commitment to MIC’s ongoing promotion and support for equality, diversity and inclusion.
A Domestic Violence Leave Policy was introduced with an accompanying implementation plan, involving awareness training for the Policy among the MIC staff community.
The Academic Year 2024/25 concluded with the engagement of 234 staff through training and development in relation to sexual violence and harassment. Over 1,400 students participated in consent training in the same period.
A Staff Training series funded by a HEA Funding call was run and covered topics such as risk assessment, trauma-informed care, the rise of online masculinity influencers, the impact of pornography and disclosure training. 181 staff and students attended these training events.
Under the HEA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund, MIC was a partner on three of the successful projects, including:
- Intersectional Practice in Higher Education Staff Networks - To support the formation and growth of staff networks across multiple campuses.
- Intersections of Inequality - Understanding and Addressing Workplace Vulnerability through a Multi-Dimensional EDI Lens. This project addresses the concept of workplace vulnerability and explores it through an intersectional and identity-informed lens.
- Higher Education Institutes Toolkit for Stalking Project - The project seeks to target measurable increases in understanding stalking and relevant supports, confidence in reporting, and institutional response capability.
Dr Lylian Fotabong was appointed as the inaugural MIC Race Equality and Sanctuary Manager. This post aims to develop a race equality strategy in line with HEA requirements and support the University of Sanctuary programme of work.
Two Postgraduate scholarships were awarded in 2024-2025 and were presented at the MIC Student Awards evening. Both students are from Afghanistan.
MIC Africa Day Summit, hosted in May 2025, was a highly successful event with close to 100 attendees; the majority coming from the International Protection and African diaspora communities. A diverse range of speakers presented research, including diplomats, MIC PhD students, and scholars from Ireland and abroad, and 24 papers were presented.
As part of the MIC response to those seeking asylum in Ireland as part of the temporary and international Protection system and our commitment to Sanctuary, MIC offers a Certificate in English for Academic Purposes Programme. This AY saw the graduation of 30 students from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Sudan, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Algeria, and Palestine.
February 2025 saw the establishment of MIC’s Women’s Network, comprising of sixteen women who had benefitted from their participation in the MIC funded Aurora Women in Leadership programme. The Network, chaired by Karen Fisher (Arts Office) and Dr Rosemary Day (Media and Communication Studies), quickly set about identifying core values of partnership, respect, collaboration, trust, recognition and community that would guide their future work.
